Generally, optical calibration of biological analysis and research instruments, such as a qPCR system, is very complex and requires several steps that are not suitable for execution by a user or the customer. Initial optical calibration of an instrument is typically conducted in a manufacturing environment, and periodic re-calibration is frequently conducted at a user's location by field service engineers. This adds considerable cost to the upkeep of the instrument.
With the advancements in designs to increase the versatility of, for example, qPCR instruments, single instruments may support multiple sample formats such as, for example, 96 and 384 well microtiter plates, TLDA microcards and though-hole microarrays. In microarrays, for example, the number of through-holes can vary depending on the needs of the user and the experiment. An example of a microarray can be a consumable that can have 3072 through-holes for running biological experiments. In another example, a microarray may have at least 10000 through-holes for running biological experiments. This allows a user to expand the capabilities of a previously purchased instrument at any time during the life of the instrument. In these instances, it becomes advantageous to provide a method of optically calibrating the existing instrument to accommodate a new sample format. Additionally providing the optical calibration capability to the user allows for a cost effective and efficient expansion of an existing instrument installation.